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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29041344">Friction</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kerriberri/pseuds/Kerriberri'>Kerriberri</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:34:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,657</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29041344</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kerriberri/pseuds/Kerriberri</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Della seeks to get revenge on Gyro for making her years on the moon unpleasant and difficult, but little does she know, she's in for a rude awakening herself.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>64</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>If she ever made it back to earth, there were three things Della Duck wanted to do: 1. Shower her boys with love and affection, 2. Reconnect with her family and friends, and 3. Kick Gyro's butt.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> “What’s wrong, Della?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Oh nothing, Uncle Scrooge. I think my leg got a little busted up, but don’t worry. I’ll have it good as new!” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Well...okay. Feel free to use whatever you need here, but if you need any extra parts, I’m sure Gyro will oblige you. In fact, why don’t you…” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “…” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Della?” </em>
</p><p>Before she knew it, Della was walking into the lab. </p><p>She gave the area a quick cursory glance and was immediately disgusted. No, she hadn’t laid eyes on Duckburg’s maddest scientist yet; however, she found something else that she considered to be just as repulsive.</p><p>Sealife.</p><p>
  <b> <em>Disgusting!</em> </b>
</p><p>“Okay. Focus, Della.” She told herself. “The quicker you find Gyro, the quicker you can kick his butt. And the quicker you can kick his butt, the quicker you can be out of this...stupid reverse fishbowl of a lab.”</p><p>“Hello, ma’am! How can I-”</p><p>She let out a yelp and quickly covered her mouth. She looked at the source of the voice and saw a (now-alarmed thanks to her) brown duck.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” He said sheepishly.</p><p>“No, it’s okay, it’s just-” She paused to compose herself. “I need to speak with Dr. Gearloose.”</p><p>“Do you have an appointment?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>His smile faded a bit. “Oh, I see.” He said. “Have you had a device to malfunction?”</p><p>“...Kinda.”</p><p>“Hm.” Della raised an eyebrow but before she said anything, he cleared his throat and continued. </p><p>“Gearloose Laboratories, a subsidiary of McDuck Enterprises, apologizes for any harm or inconvenience our products have caused you and/or your loved ones. If you wish to file a complaint, I can give you a form to fill out and Mr. McDuck’s legal team will review it and get back with you in five to seven business days. Pardon me.” With a bow, he hurried off.</p><p>And shortly afterwards, she scampered up the nearby staircase to access the platform.</p><p>No sooner than she reached the top to resume her search, that’s when she saw him.</p><p>Dr. Gyro Gearloose.</p><p>She sneered at him. “Hey, Gearloose!”</p><p>Upon hearing her voice, he dropped his clipboard and whipped around. He stared at her in wide-eyed disbelief, all color drained from his face.</p><p>But then he gave her a skeptical look.</p><p>“Nice try, intern,” he said, “but it’s going to take a lot more than that to get me to change my mind about working overtime.”</p><p>“Did you say something, Dr. Gearloose?”</p><p>Gyro’s face dropped. He peered over the edge of the platform and saw his intern looking back at him holding a stack of papers.</p><p>Before he could even turn back around, Della lunged at him and tackled him to the ground.</p><p>“‘So easy even Della could do it’?!” She screeched as she put him in a headlock. “I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT DELLA CAN DO!!”</p><p>“ACK! MANNY HELP!!!” </p><p>Immediately, the man-horse appeared at the top of the stairs with the intern close behind him, his papers abandoned. Manny worked to pry Della from his boss while Gyro scrambled to safety where the duck she met earlier helped him to his feet.</p><p>“I’m not through with you yet, Gearloose!” Della shouted as she struggled against the man-horse that was now carrying her away. “I’ll beat you black and blue like Oxy-Chew! Black licorice gum?! SERIOUSLY??!!!?!” As she flailed about, the lower part of her robot leg came loose and slid across the floor.</p><p>Manny stopped and looked at the limb before giving his coworkers what could be interpreted as a questioning look. The two interns then looked at their boss, who without a word, walked over and picked up the leg and examined it.</p><p>By this time, Della’s face was glowing red from anger and embarrassment. “Ugh, give me that!” She managed to wiggle an arm loose to grab her prosthesis.</p><p>“I will, once it’s fixed.” He responded. “Manny, intern, will you give us a moment?”</p><p>Della glared at Gyro as he turned back to his station. Her focus didn’t deviate even when Manny sat her down in a chair that the other intern fetched for her and gave her the “I’m watching you” gesture before they left.</p><p>“Okay,” Gyro walked over to her and set his toolbox on the ground, “let’s get to work.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>To combat the seemingly ridiculous story about her whereabouts over the past decade, Gyro hits Della with some cold, hard facts.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Gyro entered the storage closet and leaned against the door. He took a deep breath and as he exhaled he slid to the ground.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thankfully, Della’s leg was a simple enough fix because he was going to need all of his strength to mentally process her return. He still couldn’t believe it. It was really her! After all of these years! Della Duck was back safe and sound!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked back and forth at the components of her prosthesis that were in his hands.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mostly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>
    <em>But how?</em>
  </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Surely one pack of OxyChew couldn’t have sustained her all these years. That is, if she were really in space this whole time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Despite Scrooge and his recovery crews’ best efforts, no sign of the Spear of Selene was ever discovered in space, or even on earth for that matter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No debris. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No crash site.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And yet she has a limb that’s made entirely out of parts of the ship?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>
    <em>How?</em>
  </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He sighed. “Pull yourself together, Gearloose.” He told himself. “You still have a job to do, so just grab what you need so you can get back and get answers.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With that said, he stood up and searched the supply closet for what he needed to make his repairs. (Also, he made a note to tell Manny or the other intern to order some materials that they were running low on.) Once he was done, he exited the closet and ascended the platform to return to his station.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before he reached the top of the stairs, he could already hear Della complaining. From what he could make out, she was mumbling something about fish. However, once she locked eyes with him, she just scoffed and turned her head. He rolled his eyes in response as he returned to her side to start working.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, what have you been up to?” He asked, breaking the silence between them. “Searching the galaxy for a new species to terrorize?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No!” She retorted, not looking at him. “I was stuck on the moon.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh-huh.” He responded. “Well you’re not stuck now so how did you get back?” From out of the corner of his eye, he could see her features softening.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well it wasn’t easy.” She said. “I spent much of the time fighting a mother moon mite that kept stealing parts to feed her kid, but I finally got the ship rebuilt! But then I saw that it ran on GoldTech. Who comes up with a gold-powered rocket?! Honestly?! So I had to go out and search the moon for gold, and guess what? THERE ISN’T ANY GOLD ON THE STINKIN’ MOON!! But anyway, that’s when I met Penny, Lunaris, and the other Moonlanders and they gave me more than enough gold to fix my ship and get home.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I see.” Gyro said. “And I see that you’ve become quite the fabulist too.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her head snapped up. “What do you mean by that?” She asked, her eyes narrowing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He returned the scowl. “Oh come off it, Della. This is your worst lie yet!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But it’s true!” She asserted. “I mean, sure, some parts are a little out there and I wouldn’t believe much of it myself if it hadn’t happened to me, but why would I lie about this?!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, cold feet about being a twenty-something single mom to triplets?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I love my kids very much, thank you!” She said. “And I spent every moment on that rock doing everything I could to get back to them! Being a parent means caring about others and sacrificing for them, but you don’t know anything about that! If I had known that I would be separated from them as well as the rest of my family for ten years, then I would’ve never gotten on that rocket!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <b>BUT YOU DID!!</b>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As Gyro’s words echoed off the walls of the lab, everything had gone quiet again. Too quiet. In fact, it was even apparent that the headless man horse below had stopped sweeping, perhaps to prepare himself to once again intervene on his boss’s behalf, yet Della did nothing, too stunned to even move or speak.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That little stunt you pulled ten years ago affected more than just your family.” Gyro said. “Look around. This is all who works for the scientific research department for McDuck Enterprises now. Just me and two unpaid interns. In fact, there were several company-wide layoffs as Mr. McDuck devoted more and more money towards your rescue efforts.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gyro took her limb and moved to his workbench. “Until he was stopped by his board before the company went bankrupt.” He added as he continued working. “And those were just the financial repercussions. Your brother took off with the kids and didn’t speak to Mr. McDuck again until just recently.” Della remained silent but looked away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So the next time you want to lecture somebody about caring for others,” he pushed her repaired prosthesis into her hands, “take a good look at the woman in the mirror.” Without another word or a second glance, he walked away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sure enough, Manny was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. He pretended to look busy or at least preoccupied with something else.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Manny, make a note.” Gyro said. “We need some more braided sleeving. Stainless steel. One-and-a-half inches. Also, we need 6-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was cut off as a brown and white blur sped past him. Seconds later, the elevator arrived and it was soon gone again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a beat, Gyro continued, “I’ll give you my full list later, but for now, I need you to go and grab the other intern. I think we’re done here for today.”</span>
</p>
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